Edward Gillish

Edward Gillish was a Scottish footman in the service of James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray. He shared his lord's Protestant faith, and he was secretly affiliated with the Protestant rebels and the English crown. In 1558, Queen Elizabeth I of England paid him a large sum of gold in exchange for his assassination of the Catholic Mary, Queen of Scots so that James, her half-brother, could become the new King of Scotland. During James and Edward's stay at the Palace of Fontainebleau in Paris, Dauphin Francis discovered that Gillish had lavishly spent English money on prostitutes, and he questioned why Gillish had hidden gold in his valise. Gillish was tortured by stretching until he confessed to his master's guilt, thwarting the plot to murder Mary.